Onward and upward. . . or something like that.

I think my update yesterday leaves me at updating for October. Its crazy to me to think that we're already over half way through October. Time just FLIES!!!!! I remember as a kid thinking that the school year DRAGGED on and that each year was adequately enjoyed. But now that I am looking at it from a parental stand point it just goes so quickly! It seems that I blink my eyes and we're standing at yet another school year and my kids are yet another year older!!

I knew going into this school year that we were going to be facing some major sicknesses. Its the rule it seems, that when you send a new child into the germ infested cesspool big new world we call school that they are now exposed to all those new germs. When Dallas went off for the first time we dealt with large amounts of colds. When Gabe went each of my kids had pneumonia 2 times along with various other illnesses. This year I doubled my kids in school. Went from 2 to 4 and I just KNEW this year would be bad. Knew it. And I was right!!! Here's what we've had so far, in order:

Kendyl: Fever up to 103. Monitored her for the mandatory 24 hours, from Monday to Tuesday to see if it was a virus, and then took her in. Turns out it was a sinus infection. She was put on Amoxicillian and sent home. She suffered for the next 3 days with the fever having no relief. I was able to get her back in on that Saturday and they gave her new meds since it seemed that the sinus infection was past the point of working with the amoxicillian.

Dallas: The Sunday immediately following Kendyl's return trip to the doctor Dallas started with a fever of 102. I gave him his required 24 hours and wound up taking him into urgent care. They ran blood work on him to check his white count (which is ALWAYS fun when you have a child who has an extreme phobia of needles) they did an x ray and a strep test. The doctor said that she heard slight crackles in his lungs and called in pneumonia. I have a feeling it was more sinus infection than pneumonia since he sounded JUST like Kendyl. But whatever. He was put on meds and sent home. He was home until Wednesday, and then returned to school Thursday for picture day.

Kaleb: Picture day was a Thursday and it was the first day in almost a week and a half that I sent all the kids into school only to get a call at 9:30 am letting me know that I had to come and get Kaleb because he had pink eye. ON PICTURE DAY!!!!! I went in and sure enough, pink eye! And it was the day the fire trucks were at school which was doubly devastating for Kaleb since his lifelong dream has been to be a fireman. I got him ready to go and luckily his class was looking at the fire truck on our way out. So he got to shoot the hose and what not. Then they said they were planning to go right in for a picture. I opted to walk with Kaleb to get his done because once he smiled you didn't really see the pink. And then I had the OPTION for retakes rather than solely relying on it. I got Kaleb into the doc for that and they gave him drops.

Gabe: Thursday night that Kaleb had his pink eye pop up Gabe started with a fever of 103. It was the ONLY symptom he had and we just kept monitoring him. By Sunday he and Kaleb both had fevers and I made them an appointment. Poor Kaleb not only had the pink eye that wouldn't go away, but he had the fever. It was miserable. Monday I took them both in. Gabe tested positive for strep throat and was put on meds. He's allergic to amoxicillian so they put him on cefzil. Kaleb was given round two of drops for the pink eye, and give meds for strep as well. I had them both home Monday and Tuesday and was able finally sent all four kids back to school on Wednesday. Gabe made it through the day on Wednesday but came home really itchy. Right before dinner he was hives head to knee. It warranted a trip to urgent care yet again where we were told he is also allergic to cefzil He falls into the 5% of people who have an allergy to one who also are allergic to the other. The doctor told us to go home and the hives would go away. I was pretty concerned because he'd only been on meds for strep for 2 days. He said not to worry about it, and that just didn't feel right. The next morning I put a call into our regular pediatrician who said that my gut was right and that she felt he still needed some meds. So he was put on zithromax and spent the next 2 days home recuperating from the hives.

Needless to say I'm SICK of SICK!!!! I finally was able to send four mostly healthy kids to school on Monday of this week. I had ONE day for me. And then they've all been off this week for conferences and MEA break. AHHHHH! I need some time out I think!!!

In other news I'm going to be going back to college full time starting in January, and there's finally been some good news on the school front. I finally got word that all the classes I took when I went to college 10 years ago are still going to be good and that I can use them towards going back to school now! WOOOO HOOOOO! This is going to save SO much money! And time!! Also I found out if I go to the same school I went to then that I don't even need to reapply! More savings!!! I'll be going for a meeting next week to get all the exact answers and clarify what I will need to do, and what classes I'll need to take. But its sounding very much like I'm going to be going back into the nursing end of things! I tried to chase my dream and become an ultrasound tech, only to find out that in the last 6 months of schooling they would most likely relocate me to someplace like Texas or Florida for six months. That's just NOT an option for me. So now we're onto a different path!!!

There's always something happening, something coming up, and something to look forward to around here!!!